Tag Archives: #deals

We will get to cell phones in a moment or two, depending on how fast you can read. But first, let me give you an example of skewed advertising. Right now, I want you to picture a pair of prescription glasses. What pops into your mind? For those of us who have impaired eyesight, we can tell you why your picture is not quite right.

It turns out that a pair of prescription glasses is actually 3 parts: the frames, lens number one, and lens number two. If you would like to upgrade to scratch resistant, low glare, transition lenses, lightweight, etc., you will pay more. Seriously?

What about shopping for homes? New home buyers might think they will pay only the quoted principal and interest price per month. Not only will property tax and insurance add much to your payment, but you find out about all sorts of processing and document fees. Those are my favorite kinds of fees. In fact my husband and I recently bought a used car from a sales lot. Luckily, we were eligible and fortunate enough to participate (again) in the non advertised processing fee and document fee program. I think I’m going to start a club.

Let’s talk cell phones. I found a screaming deal! And after all has been said and done, I assure you, in my opinion (back off lawyers), it IS a screaming deal!!! I wish I could say I get a kick back or some sort of payment for my testimonial. I don’t. Do I want to pay it forward? Sure. Do I want there to be an eventual repercussion on those engaged in skewed advertising? Yes!!! Hopefully it will lead to either a lowering of rates, a true reflection of the actual cost involved, or both.

Backstory: Kids wanted cell phones. Mom (me) & Dad, (the old bald guy) owned dinosaur flip phones with old school texting for a “low” monthly payment of approximately $60 per month through “major” carrier. Last Christmas I bought my boys pay-as-you-go cell phones with slide open keypads. I thought it would be the highlight of their presents. My boys were thoroughly unimpressed. They weren’t smart phones. They went mostly unused. . . A waste of money.

So, the talk of the next couple of months was how to get smart phones for the whole family. My boys and I checked into plans and found some deals. A lot of major carriers offer some sort of family plan. Screaming deals!! So we ran the numbers and finally decided to go with a certain carrier. I actually went online and started adding things to “my cart”. The numbers went horribly awry. The plan was a great deal, but oh, you actually want line access with that? Um, yes, I would like for the phones to work. Well, then, that is a different situation. The stated family plan with phones and plan, and line access was now more than double than the advertised deal. It turns out that cell phone usage is like buying glasses. There are 3 parts: the phone, the plan, and the line access. You need all 3 for it to work.

So we checked out a second major carrier who also advertised a screaming deal. Nope, same problem. We checked into a third major carrier. Again, same thing. Note how I am not naming names.

I can’t figure out why companies pay huge bucks for advertising and for advertising campaigns that just aren’t as advertised. A company should be creating a feel good, win-win relationship with a customer. Why in the world would you advertise a price point that you know is not true for the service to work, and set up a resentful relationship with your customer? I really don’t get it. Hint, hint.

My quest continued. I start asking around at work. What type of cell phone do you own? What do you like and not like about your cell phone? Who is your carrier? Is your service good? How much do you pay per month? They are only too happy to answer my questions but I don’t like their answers when it comes to the cost. As the months go by, my coworkers become annoyed with me. They can’t believe that in my downtime I am still online looking for a screaming deal. There just aren’t any. When will I wake up?

But wait. I came across a great article. The link is at the bottom of this blog post. I researched the plans and decided to go with Republic Wireless for three of us and a separate plan for the old, bald guy who had different needs cell phone wise. My sons and I are almost always under the wonderful veil of Wifi service either at home, work, or school. I had to purchase 3 smart phones up front. I believe they were around $150 each. Maybe this is part of the way they make money, I don’t know. They are not the latest and greatest, but they are smartphones, and you can only use the Republic Wireless plan with certain phones. We did not “port in” our numbers, which means we got new phone numbers.

I didn’t pick the cheapest plan, which is Wifi only at $5.00 per month. You can make 911 calls outside of Wifi. I upgraded myself and the kids to the $10 per month plan which includes text and calls over 3G outside of Wifi. You can upgrade to include gigs if you want. They now even have a refund program where you receive money off of your bill for not using your gig allowance if you are on that plan.

The part I am DYING to get to: My monthly bill is $33, including taxes for all three lines. The fine print? It is actually in the same size type as all of the rest. Republic Wireless has a page about how much you will pay in taxes. There is no line access fee, no skewed advertising in my opinion. How refreshing! That is why the $10 per month option I chose X 3 lines of service, plus taxes equals $33.00.

This is a two part plan. One, buy a phone, two, pay for service. That’s it. Really, truly, A SCREAMING DEAL! Don’t believe me? Neither does anyone else. I tell my friends and coworkers about what I finally decided upon and tell them the cost. The looks on people’s faces would be the same as if I told them about last night’s alien abduction experience. One coworker even stated, “Well, you really don’t know until you receive your fist bill.” Another victim of being used to having to pay at least 100% more than advertised per month for that “monthly deal”.

No, really. My monthly bill, again, including taxes is $33 per month for 3 lines of service. I have had the service for several months, I have received the bills, and yes, it’s true. Check it out!

About Canyon

An elegant, versatile and magazine style theme with easy customization options. It features a modern design, post excerpts with thumbnails, header, background, fixed-width, widget-ready and threaded comments. Canyon theme also comes with custom Menus support and other cool features. Tested with major browsers - Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari and Chrome. Check Canyon Official Page in case you need directions.